MAY 20: Police are looking for Ork Ron, 45, who escaped after injuring his

brother-in-law, Dok Nak, 41, and niece, Nak Sophors, 16, during an argument at 6:30

p.m. in Teuk Chea village, Kandal province. Nak told police that Ron was angry and

attacked him and his daughter with a heavy knife after Nak came to Ron's house and

asked him to pay back the $10 he lent him the previous month.

MAY 20: A group of ten masked gunmen escaped after robbing Nuon Kimhong, 52,

while he slept in Kroay Wat village, Kampong Cham province. Kimhong said the robbers

entered his house and aimed a long gun at him, then they stole a gold necklace, two

gold earrings, seven platinum bracelets, one camera and one million riel. Kimhong

said they shot a woman, Ngoun Vouch, 50, in the thigh as her son telephoned the authorities

to ask them to intervene.

MAY 21: A 34-year-old woman, Soth Chanda, was axed to death at 10:40 p.m.

in Kampong Vaing village, Kampong Thom province. Police said Chanda was chopped four

times in the head and her body dropped downstairs by a male neighbor, Hour Hauy,

34. Hauy told police that he thought Chinda was a thief because she walked upstairs

silently. Hauy escaped after talking to police.

MAY 21: A crowd killed a 35-year-old man, Thy, with heavy knifes and axes

after he was accused of stealing cows at midnight in Koh Chamroeun village, Kandal

province. Chey Kosal, 27, said Thy escaped and hid at his house after he and his

two accomplices had attempted to steal his three cows. Thy's wife, Prak Chanthy,

35, cried and said that the mob's actions were illegal because the people killed

her husband while he was staying at home.

MAY 21: Huol Phal, 26, and his 5-year-old son, Huol Phoan, were killed instantly

when a 57mm artillery shell exploded in Khaek Pong village, Siem Reap province. Police

said the shell exploded after Phal tried to open it to sell the scrap metal to a

steel-recycling vendor. Police said the explosion injured three other people who

were watching Phal try to open the bomb.

MAY 22: Chhum Ran, 42, a widow with two daughters and one son, was shot dead

while upstairs at her house at 7:30 p.m. in Suon Ampov village, Pailin city. Police

said the woman was shot once in the head by a man who escaped empty-handed. The reason

of the killing was not known.

MAY 23: Police arrested a suspected robber after a moto-taxi driver shouted

for help to stop the theft at 8:40 p.m. in Trea village, Meanchey district, Phnom

Penh. Chea Ea, 35, told police that the robber, identified as Sina, 28, stabbed him

in the neck with scissors and then tried to escape on his motorbike.

MAY 23: Three passengers died instantly when their motorbike crashed into

a container truck at 7:40 p.m. while driving on National Road 4 in Cham Chao village,

Phnom Penh. Police said that Ham Pisith, 21, Sar Sopheap, 21, and San Sina, 20, were

struck from the front while trying to overtake a car. The truck swerved into a nearby

canal and it's driver, Pen Mao, 37, was arrested.

MAY 24: Soam Savay, 24, a garment worker, was found hanged with a krama at

a guesthouse in Chom Chao village, Phnom Penh. Police said Savay committed suicide

because she had recently argued with her husband over jealousy, according to Savay's

sister. The sister said that before the suicide, Savay phoned her and asked her to

take care of her child, before saying goodbye forever.

MAY 24: Provincial court of Kampong Speu sentenced Dy Sok, 20, to 30 years

in prison for a murder he committed in Phnoeu Chas village. The judge, Yu Yinny,

said Sok was arrested in August last year after he raped and killed a 6-year-old

girl, Sim Sreyrong. Sok confessed that he had committed the crimes and had hung her

body from a tree to make it look like suicide. The judge ordered Sok to pay 4 million

riel in damages to the girl's family.

MAY 24: Sar Nen, 32, was taken to Calmette Hospital after being shot in a

robbery at 11:30 a.m. while driving a motorbike back from Chan Louk primary school

where she worked as a teacher in Koh Prak village, Kandal province. A witness said

three robbers blocked her path and asked for the remote control starter of her bike.

They shot her in the stomach with a handgun, then escaped on her bike.

MAY 25: Pich Chanvisal, 18, was sent to a hospital after being robbed and

shot while riding with his girlfriend on a motorbike in Soung village, Kampong Cham

province. Chanvisal said that two robbers overtook him and threatened to kill him

with a handgun as he tried to drive away. Chanvisal said they shot him three times

in the arm, then they stole his bike.

MAY 25: Pol Vanthan, 19, was arrested again while drinking beer at 8 p.m.

at Rasmey Phnom Penh Beer Garden restaurant in Psar Thmey 3 precinct. Police said

Vanthan robbed Seng Sophon, 20, and stole his motorbike a week ago. Police said Vanthan

was a savage robber in Phnom Penh and was recently released from Prey Sar prison

after he paid a bribe to a court official.

MAY 25: Prum Sang, 37, and his wife, Moanh Chun, 40, were sent to a provincial

hospital for treatment after being severely injured in Kroay Wat village, Kampong

Chhnang province. Police said the couple were attacked with a heavy knife by the

woman's older sister, Moanh Chean, 42, who later committed suicide by hanging herself

with a krama. Moanh Son, the oldest sister of the two women, said Chean was angry

because her brother-in-law, Sang, had extra-love with her but had left when she was

eight months pregnant with his baby.MAY 26: A Thai national, Samwang Tae Erakun,

52, was found hanged with a rope at the Star Vegas Casino in Poipet commune, Banteay

Meanchey province. Police said Samwang committed suicide. The reason of the suicide

was not known, but Samwang's family reported to police that he had high blood pressure.

MAY 26: Police arrested Me Chhy, 17, after he was accused of a rape committed

two weeks earlier in Sdao village, Siem Reap province. Nuol Rong, a police officer

with the provincial anti-trafficking department, said Chhy raped a 9-year-old girl

while she was looking after her family's cows in a rice field. Police said the rapist

was later sent to the court and the girl was referred to the Cambodian Woman Crisis

Center.

MAY 27: Chea Heng, 30, was sent to a district hospital for treatment after

being axed during a drunken argument about 6 p.m. in Spean Tumneap village, Battambang

province. A witness said Heng was struck in the head by a neighbor, Chum Tum, 44,

whom police later arrested. Tum said Heng criticized him for only harvesting 20 kilograms

of soybeans per hectare. Tum said he was angry with Heng's comments because he had

in fact harvested 200 kilograms per hectare.

MAY 28: A Chinese national, Chung Kwok Hung, 47, was arrested at the Phnom

Penh International Airport around 7 p.m. after police found 3 kilograms of heroin

strapped to his legs. Police said the man was stopped at a checkpoint on his way

to board an airplane bound for Hong Kong. Police said Chung was detained temporarily

at the anti-drug office in the Ministry of Interior and would be charged in accordance

with the law.

MAY 28: Phong Samon, a deputy chief of the provincial court of Kampong Speu,

filed a complaint with the court after the front tire of his car was shot out as

he drove home on National Road 4 in Bek Chan commune, Kandal province. Samon said

four policemen who worked at the AZ toll booth shot at his car with an AK-47 and

ordered him to return to the toll gate, because he had paid 800 riel less then the

full toll.

MAY 29: A mainland Chinese national, Xie Yue Yang, 25, died at Calmette Hospital

after being attacked at midnight as he walked home from Shanghai bar in Psar Thmei

3 precinct, Phnom Penh. A witness told police Yang was stabbed in the waist, chest

and arm with a sharp steel object by an unidentified man who escaped after a security

guard of the nightclub shot twice into the air to intervene.

MAY 29: Chan Navy, 49, was robbed at around 2 a.m. while walking downstairs

to make noodles to sell in Thnalbek Khanglech village, Kampong Cham province. Navy

told police that two of three gunmen aimed an AK-47 at her and then stole her platinum

ring and 1.3 million riel. Navy said the robbers shot once into the air before fleeing

on foot.

- Translated from Khmer newspapers Koh Santepheap and Rasmei Kampuchea by Aun

Pheap